What are our next steps toward BLM?

How about that amazing special edition 350 PNW Conversations call on Monday?!

We had 22 folks from 12 local groups across our region gather together to reflect, listen, and engage in conversation around the powerful recent message “In Defense of Black Lives” from Black leadership at 350.org to all of us organizing for climate justice at local groups in the US. Thank you to everyone who showed up to share in this conversation together with empathy, insight, and care. 

I encourage each of you to watch the webinar message so that you, too, can engage in this ongoing conversation about what it looks like at the local group level to respond in a good way to Black leadership within our organization. 

Meeting Notes + Slides w/Resources

Three key reflections are worth sharing here:

1. The importance of following Black leadership at this moment in our support of the movement for Black lives, including at the local, regional, and national levels.
2. Our key role as local group organizers in educating our groups and our bases to help our communities make strong connections between climate justice and racial justice, and to provide ongoing support and education around topics that may feel challenging to some, such as defunding the police or conversations around “looting”.
3. We have broad regional alignment and shared values around showing up as climate organizers right now in support of Black lives in a good way.

You can find fantastic notes from the call above, (thank you to Emily from 350 Spokane for stepping in as note taker while I have limited hand function!!) and I’m also going to pull all of our resources together right here for folks to make it that much easier to engage with this ongoing conversation.

Resources for Next Steps

• “What we must do to dismantle white supremacy” (article) – Rell Brown and Natalia Cardona of 350.org
  • This article contains many powerful resources for each of us as we engage in this work, including how to respond to the phrase “riots never solve anything”, and resources for deepening your anti-racist work for white people and parents
• Defending Black Lives (new short video) featuring Dominique Thomas, 350.org Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizer
  • A video share pack to help you share it as widely as possible with your own members and broader community.
• In Defense of Black Lives (video)
  • Toolkit for Amplifying asks from “In Defense of Black Lives” to your membership and base
  • Ally Pledge “In Defense of Black Lives” to sign and share with others at your local group and in your community. 
  • Bail Funds: https://bit.ly/350bailfunds (all donations go directly to bail funds)
  • Here’s a piece by Bill McKibben in the New Yorker that links to the webinar and provides additional context. 
• Racial Justice – Climate Justice Arts Toolkit from David Solnit
• The Movement for Black Lives (350.org has aligned with this org)
  • M4bl week of Action (ideas + options for organizers to engage)
  • Making Meaning of This Moment webinar (essential for understanding this movement)
• Why caring about the climate crisis means supporting the demand to defund the police. (article) – Alec Connon, 350 Seattle, Stop The Money Pipeline
• A FAQ on Building a Police-Free Future from the Black Visions Collective that can be useful to share with friends/ family new to thinking about defunding and abolishing police.